Audio Antiques

Ken Robinson interviews art gallery director Ernestine Brown, about collecting and investing in contemporary artworks. There also advice on creating your own art gallery and furthering a career as an artist, with a special focus on people of color.  (1982)

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America's Town Meeting of the Air was a public affairs discussion program which began on NBC radio's Blue Network in 1935 and ran for 21 years. It was one of radio's first talk shows, and NBC did not expect it to become a success, but it did, and eventually picked up a sponsor. Each week moderator George Denny Jr presided over an examination of a controversial issue with a large audience present and participating in the discussion. We're going to hear America's Town Meeting of the Air on November 16, 1939. The topic is, Should We ignore Racial Differences?

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Ken interviews author Whitley Strieber, and explores the subjects of miscarriage, and dating. 

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William Warfield was a famous opera singer, born in the U.S state of Arkansas in 1920. Known for his rich baritone voice and commanding stage presence, the African-American rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, captivating audiences worldwide, and gracing the stages of prestigious opera houses and concert halls. Warfield served in the Army during World War Two, working in military intelligence. After the war, he earned a masters degree at the Eastman School of Music, and was quickly invited to tour Australia where he gave 35 concerts. Warfield then made 6 separate tours of Europe taking the continent by storm. He became a regular guest on radio and television shows.

Warfield later became a University of Illinois music professor at Urbana-Champaign, and was later promoted to Chairman of the Voice Department. In 1984 he received a Grammy Award. You will hear William Warfield just as his operatic career was starting to skyrocket, on NBC Radio's popular Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show in 1952. One of only a handful of African-Americans to appear on the show during its more than 20 year history.

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She's one of the most celebrated entertainers in American history. Lucille Désirée Ball was an actress, comedian, model, studio executive, and producer. However, she's best known as the star of the wildly popular, classic TV show I Love Lucy. Before her long career on television began, Lucy had a successful radio career during the medium's golden age, in addition to occasional roles on stage and screen. You will hear Lucille Ball in a 1948 episode from her long running radio sitcom My Favorite Husband, which I Love Lucy was patterned after. She will perform on a 1951 episode of Screen Director's Playhouse, and finally in a 1944 dramatic role on the legendary radio series, Suspense. 

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Ken Robinson interviews members of the Forest City Dental Society about the challenges facing black doctors of oral medicine. (1982)

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Arthur Lee Simpkins was an African-American singer with a unique talent. He was born in South Carolina in 1907, where he became known as the "Black Caruso" in reference to the legendary opera singer Enrico Caruso. In 1936, Simpkins recorded a hit version of "Sing, Sing, Sing" with Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra. That record jump started Simpkins career, allowing him to perform a wide variety of music ranging from classic standards to operatic renditions, and not just different genres, but in many different languages and dialects. Simpkins performed on television regularly during the medium's early days, and also appeared in movies, like the film Why Men Leave Home in 1951. He was last remembered for singing at the memorial for legendary R&B legend Sam Cooke in 1964. Tragically, Simpkins died from a routine bladder operation in 1972 and was largely forgotten. You will hear Arthur Lee Simpkins sing three songs on the David Rose Show on CBS Radio in 1950.

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Walker Smith Jr. was one the greatest boxers of all time. You know him as Sugar Ray Robinson, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He started fighting in 1940, using the name of Robinson because he was underage. From 1943 to 1951 Robinson went on a 91-fight winning streak, the third-longest in professional boxing history. Robinson also became the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. After his boxing career ended, Robinson became an entertainer, singing, dancing, and acting on TV shows and a few movies. Hear the story of Sugar Ray Robinson, presented in a 1950 edition of Destination Freedom, and the inside story of his 6th match with the legendary Jake LaMotta, which was called the St. Valentines Day Massacre, on the CBS radio news magazine Hear It Now, in 1951. 

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Ken Robinson interviews Cuyahoga Community College instructor Lee Henn, who reveals how you can become more successful by being more assertive. (1982)

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Richard Wright was an African American author who lived from 1908 to 1960. He is best known for his novels, which often dealt with the struggles of black Americans in the early 20th century. Wright grew up in poverty in Mississippi and faced racism and discrimination throughout his life. Despite these challenges, he became a prolific writer. His works include Native Son and Black Boy, are considered classics of American literature. Wright was also a political activist and his writing often reflected his beliefs in the need for social justice. Today, he is remembered as one of the most important writers of the 20th century and a voice for the African American experience. Listen in, as Richard Wright's biography comes alive in a 1949 edition of the radio show Destination Freedom.

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